Flat-opening-book leaf



Aug. 25, 1925.

C. FRANZ; JR

-FLAT OPENING BooK LEAF Filed Feb. 1. 1924 Maz-Jes Fraz? D?. 2%

Patented Aug. 25, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FLAT-O'PENING-BOOK LEAF.

Application led February To alZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES FRANZ, J r., a citizen of the United States, and resident of Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Flat-Opening-Book Leaves; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

This invention relates to book construction and is particularly directed to a flatopening leaf for a book.

Attempts have been heretofore made to provide leaves for books such as ledgers for instance which will open out flat, and which have their maximum flexibility between the body portion of the leaf and the attached or bound portion thereof.

One of the attempts has been made by providing rectangular cut out portions between the attached and the body portion of the leaf to form rectangular connecting mem'- bers between such portions of the leaf. In actual practice it has been found that these rectangular portions tear very readily and consequently, although the flexibility is increased, the defect of tearing frequently exceeds the gain made by the increased flexibility and consequently such types of leaves have not been wholly satisfactory.

This invention is designed to overcome the above noted defects, and objects of such invention are to provide flat opening leaves for books which are provided with connecting portions integrally formed with the body of the leaf and the attached portion thereof, but which are so constructed that tearing is avoided and the stresses imposed by the flexure are distributed throughout a material portion of these strap like members, and the bending of such strap like members does not occur at right angles to the direction of such members.

Further objects are to provide a flat opening leaf for books which may be most readily formed, which is attractive in its general eifect or appearance, and which has lasting qualities.

An embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a plan view of a ledger or book equipped with leaves constructed in accordance with this invention.

1, 1924. Serial No. 689,922.

Figure 2 is a transverse sectional view on the line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary view of a detached leaf.

Throughout this description and in the claims, it is to be understood that the term ledger is used in the sense of a book of any type and although the invention is particularly directed to what is commonly known as ledger, it may also be used in other capacities, and consequently it is emphasized that the word ledger as used in this case is not to be considered as defining a certain type of book, but is to be understood as de fining books generally.

The particular form of book chosen for illustration is that of a loose leaf ledger in which binding members 1 are carried by covers 2 and clamp between them the leaves forming the body of the book. These leaves are of identical construct-ion except that the strap like members of successive superimposed leaves extend in opposite directions and are crossed.

A. single detached leaf is illustrated in Figure 3 in which it will be seen that the body portion 3 of such leaf is joined to the attached or bound portion 4L thereof by a plurality of slanting strap members 5.

These strap like members are formed by pro- I viding slanting cut outs 6 having rounded ends. Thus the strap like members are arranged in a. parallel order and in a slanting manner and integrally join the body portion and the attached portion of the leaf.

It is to be particularly noted that only one set of dies is required to produce theseleaves for the successive leaves may be reversed to cause the super-imposed adjacent strap-like members to extend in a slanting manner in opposite directions and to cross intermediate their ends, as clearly shown in Figure 1. If desired, the strap like members 5 may be transversely scored to increase the flexibility thereof, as shown in Figure 3.

It is to be noted that the strap-like members extend alternately in opposite directions for succeeding leaves. These straplike members, therefore, cross each other and cross the aperture between successive strap-like members as is obvious from an inspection of Figure 1 of the drawings. It has been found from actual experimentation with this type of book that by having this construction Where the strap-like members extend across the apertures in the succeeding sheets, that less bunching and binding occurs than any other known form.

It Will be seen, therefore, that a leaf for a book has been provided in which the body portion is joined to the attaching portion by members Which will not tear, Which have great flexibility and Which present an attractive and pleasing appearance.

Although the invention has been described in considerable detail, it is to be understood that the invention may be variously embodied and is, therefore, to be limited only as claimed.

I claim:

1. A leaf forl a book comprising a body po-rtion and an attaching portion, said portions being integrally joined by slanting strap-like members to form a portion adapted to be freely flexed.

2. A leaf for a boo-k comprising a body portion and an attaching portion, said por-l tions being integrally joined by slanting strap-like members to form a portion adapted to be freely flexed, said slanting straplike members being spaced by slanting cut* out portions having rounded ends.

3. A book comprising a binding member, and a plurality of leaves each having body portions and portions secured by said binder member, anl a plurality of slanting straplike members integrally joining said portions and forming portions adapted to be flexed, the slanting strap-like members of successive superimposed leaves extending in opposite directions.

4. A book comprising a binding member, and a plurality of leaves each having body portions and portions secured by said binder member, and a plurality of slanting straplike members integrally joining said portions and forming portions adapted to be flexed, the slanting strap-like members o-f successive superimposed leaves extending in opposite directions, said strap-like members being transversely scored.

5. A book comprising a binding member, and a plurality of leaves each having body portions and portions secured by said binding member, and a plurality of parallel, slanting, strap-like members integrally joining said portions and forming portions adapted to be fiexed, the strap-like members of successive superimposed leaves crossing and extending in opposite directions, Whereby each strap-like member contacts throughout only a portion of its length With the succeeding superimposed strap-like member.

6. A ledger comprising a binding member, and a plurality of leaves each having body portions and portions secured by said binding member, and a plurality of parallel, slanting, strap-like members integrally j oining said portions and forming portions adapted to be flexed, the strap-like members of successive superimposed leaves crossing and extending in opposite directions, Whereby each strap-like member contacts throughout only a portion of its length with the succeeding superimposed strap-like member,

said strap-like members being transversely scored along lines extending straight across the leaves from. one side thereof to the other side.

7. A ledger comprising a binding member, a plurality of leaves each having a body portion and a portion secured to said binding member, said portions being integrally joined by an intermediate portion, each of said leaves having elongated slanting cutout apertures provided with roimded outer and inner ends with the apertures of one sheet crossing the apertures of the next sheet.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand at Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State of Wisconsin.

CHARLES FRANZ, JR. 

